Repair Roads with Your Skid Steer with Crafco’s New EZ Patcher (Video)

Crafco says its new EZ Patcher attachment for skid steers can speed up road repairs and make it safer for workers.

The EZ Patcher uses a weighted floating drag box that conforms to the surface for applying Crafco’s mastic repair material, a heated binder and aggregate mix. The attachment keeps the mastic material warm with a propane burner. The mastic’s flow, application rate and agitation can be controlled from inside the skid steer’s cab. The attachment also comes with a camera system to monitor the work area to help ensure precise mastic placement.

(To watch the EZ Patcher in action, check out the video at the end of this story.)

Crafco says the attachment can “put down significantly more material in a day – safely and easily.”

It is best for patching and sealing linear cracks, such as fiber-optic trenches or longitudinal joints, the company says. It reduces the number of workers required to apply mastic and can fit in tight spaces where full-size mastic melters can’t go.

“Crafco introduced pavement repair mastic to the U.S. in 1997 and our engineering and sales groups have been committed to continuous improvement through research, education and innovation ever since,” says Tom Pfuelb, Crafco’s eastern U.S. regional sales manager. “The EZ Patcher makes it even easier and safer for state DOTs and contractors to apply mastic to difficult-to-repair pavement deficiencies like longitudinal joint failures, shoulder or edge of pavement drop-offs, cupped transverse joints, potholes and more.”

Crafco EZ Patcher Drag Box applying mastic to pavementThe EZ Patcher’s drag box applies masticCrafcoThe EZ Patcher holds 65 gallons of mastic, and the bidirectional hydraulic agitator can be switched between two modes. In mix-melt mode, the agitator automatically reverses to keep material at a uniform temperature and consistency, according to Crafco. In dispensing mode, the agitator pushes material toward the remote-controlled gate and into the drag box.

The drag box can be attached to either left or right, and the EZ Patch comes with a universal quick-attach coupler compatible with most skid steers, the company says. Two drag box hoppers of 6 inches and 10 inches are included for different tasks.

The EZ Patcher can be operated as a stand-alone unit or be used with Crafco’s 200-gallon Patcher II or the 400-gallon Patcher 4 melters.

Crafco released the following video to show the EZ Patcher in action: